The following is an audio recording of a Denial of Service Hearing at MSC South for shelter client Paul Weston. MSC South is a homeless shelter owned by the city of San Francisco, yet managed by the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. Paul Weston was accused by Saint Vincent de Paul Staff of "ongoing disruptive behavior" and "Threatening violence against staff members" during a Community Meeting held on 4/22/2009. Over an hour after the community meeting, Paul Weston was forced to leave the shelter by San Francsico police.
Wayne Garnett, Operations Manager of MSC South, wrote the following on the related incident report:
"In the community meeting, client Paul Weston started getting loud with the Director Lessy Benedict Mr. Weston continued to disrupt the meeting with loud outburst calling the Director 'liars,' 'you fucking liars.' The meeting ended. Mr. Weston, continued to get loud with loud outburst and verbal abuse towards Ms. Benedith, with statements like, You lie, take some of your salary and put to the Dinner Meals. Mr. Weston ran up to Lessy, and his body motions at her was as though he was going to harm her. Lessy then stepped back startled. Mr. Weston told Lessy you got to Friday to respond or else and threw the paper at her. I Wayne Garnett, facility Manager stepped in front of Lessy to prevent Mr. Weston from doing anything else towards Lessy or doing any harm to her. His behavior has progressively gotten more violent towards Lessy. The Police was called, and he refused to leave after being denied service."
Lessy Benedith, Program Director of MSC South, wrote the following on the incident report:
"On April 22, 2009, I was conducting a Community Meeting for clients at Multi-Service Center South where I was verbally assaulted and threatened physically by client Paul Weston. Mr. Weston was given a couple of opportunities to speak in this meeting. In his first approach he had addressed concerns relating to the operation of the facility as well as the forum of the meeting. He was reading his concerns from a laptop. Towards the end of the meeting, Mr. Weston was given an opportunity to speak. I informed Mr. Weston that we were out of time and other people wanted to speak. He interrupted by saying that he did not care and did not allow others to speak. He began yelling and verbally assaulting me saying "you fucking liar. I don't care. You fucking lied to us." I advised Mr. Weston that his behavior was not acceptable and that if he continued he would not be allowed at the meeting. He continued yelling "are you fucking threatening me...you fucking liar." I ended the meeting. He continued yelling and eventually got up from his chair, walked towards me with a laptop in his hand and motioned as if he was going to hurt me. I stepped back and away from him. My staff intervened to protect and got in front of me to block him from coming any closer. He continued his threats saying "you better fucking have my money by Friday or else..." I left the area."
This audio recording is not confidential. This was an official hearing held on public property. It is the first step in the Shelter Grievance Process to overturn the Denial of Service and is subject to review at Arbitration (the next step). Furthermore, the audio recording was done in plain site of all parties present and both parties consented to go on record. The tax payers of San Francisco as well as the donors of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society have the right to know how homeless people are treated by an organization that receive public funds.
Click here to listen to the Community Meeting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3cMuTgtEUA
Related Article:
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/denial-service
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